TripAdvisor, one of the leading online services for hotel reviews, has announced that it’s going to use a digital mark to identify hotels where cases of sexual assault have been reported. It’s now going to place these digital marks next to the listings of those hotels and resorts on its website. The marks are also going to identify other major concerns such as health, safety, and discrimination.
“These badges will remain on TripAdvisor for up to three months. However, if the issues persist we may extend the duration of the badge,” explains Kevin Carter, a spokesperson for the company. He adds that these badges are meant to be informative and not punitive.
An employee committee will decide whether to add or remove a badge. Regardless of the number of complaints, the property’s listing will not be removed from TripAdvisor.
“We want consumers to see good and bad reviews of businesses,” Carter added. If a property does get a badge, that won’t prevent TripAdvisor users from leaving new comments about it on its listing.
The company has made this decision after it had to issue a public apology last week to Kristie Love from Dallas. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that TripAdvisor had repeatedly deleted her 2010 post concerning the Paraiso Maya resort where she was raped by a security guard.
TripAdvisor said that the posts were against a previous policy that only allowed “family-friendly” language on the website.
Filed in .. Source: nytimes